Will Genocide Victims Be Enabled To return To Their Ancient Homes? Will the International Community and State Governments Fail Them yet Again?

Will Genocide Victims Be Enabled To return To Their Ancient Homes? Will the International Community and State Governments Fail Them yet Again?

At a conference held this week in Rome, about the persecuted Christians driven out of their homes in northern Iraq in the ISIS campaign of genocide, the Vatican’s Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, warned that Iraq’s ancient Christian community is struggling for its very survival – and has made an urgent call for the rights of all minority groups to be respected.

The Nineveh Plains Reconstruction Conference considered practical steps that can be taken to allow these communities to return. What was really striking was the courageous faith and fortitude of those who have suffered so grievously. Those who have experienced their Good Friday are still full of Resurrection expectations as they seek to rebuild their lives in a region where they have lived as Christians for…